I think that would be pretty intresting.
Where and what is the Alameda Corridor? Is it a tree-lined route? and from where to where?
OK…
“The project is notable for its “Mid-Corridor Trench”, a below-ground, triple-tracked rail line that is 10 miles (16 km) long, 33 feet (10 m) deep and 50 feet wide (15 m),[2] shared by both the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad[1] via trackage rights. The Alameda Corridor allows trains to bypass 90 miles (145 km) of early 20th century branch lines and the Santa Fe’s historic Harbor Subdivision along a high-speed grade-separated corridor (mainly built on the alignment of a former UP line), avoiding more than 200 at-grade railroad crossings where cars and trucks previously had to wait for long freight trains to slowly pass.[3] Many of those same rail lines were inadequately protected with little more than “wigwag” crossing signals dating from the original construction of the lines. One important use of the corridor is to take cargo containers to the ports. The corridor has a maximum speed of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h).”
alameda definition
ala·meda (al′ə mē**′də, -mā′**-)
noun
in the Southwest, a walk shaded as by alamos
Now, will someone explain to me why a trenched railroad is called the Alameda Corridor?
alamo definition
☆ ala·mo (al**′**ə mō′)
noun pl. -·mos′
Southwest a poplar tree; esp., a cottonwood
It is the tracks (former SP) that run along side Alameda Avenue down to the ports of LA and Long Beach.
The trench was built for container trains on BNSF and UP railroads to and from the Port of Long Beach. It’s a big concrete lined trench, and since it runs alongside Alameda Ave, and since it’s a corridor for port traffic (one of the busiest/only lines out of the Port of Long Beach, CA, a very busy container port) that’s where the name comes from.
I agree, it would make an interesting model, although if it was to be any interesting (a big concrete trench with track at the bottom… Not interesting in either operation or scenery!) it would have to be incorperated in a larger layout.
There is also a Grade level branch paralleling it (mostly on the East Side) to service several industries along the route, although there didn’t seem to be many freight customers - also, I am not sure if the grade level branch is continous or not. I traced it a year ago via LiveLocal (or maybe Google earth) just out of curosity - I was also there (in person) in 1998, before the project started, and while the main line was certainly busy (and there seemed to be storage sidings packed with freight cars all along the main), I don’t remember many freight spurs to customers even then.
It was on Extreme Trains, on the show about the container train from LA to Texas.
I’ve also seen it on another History Channel show, maybe Modern Marvels.
Since it’s below grade, it might be something to model as a dummy piece of trackage, crossing your layout but not actually connected to it. Sort of like a canyon, but with tracks at the bottom instead of a river. Your active tracks, along with roadways, would cross the corridor on bridges at grade level. You could even keep a string of well cars down there, with a FRED on the last one.
Operations could be interesting - but only on one end, unloading/re-loading from ships to train. From what I remember from extreme trains, the other end is simply switching motive power and long lines of loaded container flats. Walthers container crane could be used on the loading/unloading end. My [2c]